The 10 most commonly encountered situations in the early stage of entrepreneurship

Successful entrepreneurs do not think that other startups will have the same difficulties as themselves, because entrepreneurs are always accustomed to taking the announcements of victory and the revised history of successful companies against their daily struggles. To let you know that you're not alone, I've summed up the 10 most common realities of starting a startup:

1. The most loyal believers will also be furious at the slightest thrill. The best employees in startups tend to be very anxious. They stay up all night to answer the advice, help the phone, contradict the superior, and quote Joel Sposki ① about the Aerons chair's views, Paul Greham about the cool than the Rubik's Cube. They are your confidant and backbone, so you have to meet their requirements even if they require a lot. And the only way to get them to do it is to let them do their job.

2. Good people need big projects. If what you do is worthless, you can't find a valuable person to do it. I often think of pound (Ezra Pound) 's assessment of his epic poem "The Psalms": "If this is a failure, then this failure is worth all the success of this era." "We are not writing poetry, but it is closely related to our interests that we are competing with real estate agents rather than just advertising them," he said. So you need a big project to hire people who are interested in it.

3. The startups are swarming with freaks. If you leave Microsoft and join an emerging company, you are certainly dissatisfied with your current job situation and are unrealistic in thinking that the new environment may change. This is an unstable relationship, and the result may be a collective mood swings and a mixed workforce, so don't worry if your new company seems to be getting a little more eccentric.

4. Good programs take time. A good software engineer is better than 10 mediocre, especially when creating a project. But good engineers also need time: whenever we think of our talent with some new inspiration for engineering examples, we don't have to bother to schedule the design and testing because we've worked so hard. It takes time to create something good that is different, and too much time is sometimes counterproductive, so be "busy and not disorderly".

5. Every product developed by everyone must be continuously improved. The shortcuts to making first-generation products and unexpected problems always indicate that you have to reinvent certain places when making second-and third-generation products. Don't be discouraged or short-sighted, continuous improvement on the line, this is the law of the development of things.

6. Fearless leaders are often frightened. I've heard recently that the president of the most promising start-up company used to ask him anonymously http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/1560.html ">facebook's friends have a good idea." Just being worried doesn't mean you have a bad idea, and the best ideas are often the ones that make you feel most scared. And do not believe that entrepreneurs say they all "know" what to do, in fact, they are wise after the event.

7. The work is always difficult. Most startups can always find an interesting problem to be solved and then work hard to solve it. At a recent awards ceremony, Microsoft President Ballmer (820.html ">steve Ballmer") tried to find out the secret of Microsoft's success, only to come up with a word: "Work hard, try hard, try hard." This is obviously a cliché, and most entrepreneurs always remember the moment of the flash. If you don't believe you have a solid competitive edge, you need to work hard to beat your opponents.

8. Not getting better--already good. In the early days of entrepreneurship, for emerging companies, people focused on the bright future of success. But once they get to the point of success, they start talking about how good the struggle before success is. Whenever I come across this situation, I think of a Benedict's monk, Peter Bede, who was born in the late 7th century, complaining that 8th century's people lost the Venerable of the 7th century monks. Even in the darkest days of the Dark Ages, people miss the Dark Ages (①). The employees of startups are like medieval monks: always think that heaven is in the front, but the recent situation is not very good. If you can start enjoying the process of creating a new company rather than enjoying the end result, you will be a good leader.

9. The fact is the only currency. One day last week at lunch, an engineer said the only thing he remembered during the interview was that we redfin--or any start-up company-the most likely outcome was bankruptcy, but he would do it anyway. This is strange, because the more we warn people about these risks, the less they seem to pay attention to them. Since you must always take risks, you must always remind people of the risks they may face.

10. 100 million dollars will be the next competition. A partner at Sequoia Capital told me that competition really started only when income reached 100 million dollars. Perhaps the current funding threshold is not so high, but if you are doing something worthwhile, others will do the same. Since you can't see the operating process behind your competitor's beautiful website, it's a good idea to assume that these challenges only happen in your own company. But in fact they will also encounter, you have to believe this.

I have run 4 companies and have served on the boards of three other companies. Kellman told the truth. Don't let us misunderstand: it is a wonderful experience to start a company, but it is also difficult and terrible. If it's that easy, a lot of people will do it, but it often means more competition. In addition, only things that make you feel terrible can make you stronger.

Huazhong University of Hust Press "The reality of entrepreneurship"